**Men  talk  about  making  millions;  they 
ought  to  make  millions  for  not  entering  the 
ministry.”  — Hillis. 


•i*  •i' 


“For  myself,  if  I  had  a  thousand  lives  I 
should  like  in  this  generation  to  go  into  the 
ministry  with  every  one  of  them.” 

— Rev.  Hairy  Emerson  Fosdick,  D.D. 


^  ^ 


“1  am  glad  I  am  a  preacher  because  the 
message  I  proclaim  is  an  emancipator.  It  is 
the  truth  that  makes  men  free.” 

— J2ev.  James  I.  Vance,  D.D. 


Wift  Cfjallengc  of  tfje  iflinisitrp 

A  CHALLENGE  involves  a  challenger  and  a  challenger 
implies  merit,  as  Sir  Thomas  Lipton,  Jack  Dempsey, 
Lincoln  and  Douglas  and  David  and  Goliath  bear  witness. 
This  merit  many  refuse  to  concede  to  the  ministry.  Instead 
of  issuing  a  challenge  they  think  the  ministry  ought  to 
apologize  for  existing  or,  assuming  the  right  to  exist,  defend 
the  title  to  continued  existence.  Felix  Adler  says  the  pulpit 
is  obsolete  :  Thoreau  says  that  nine  tenths  of  the  clergy  are 
noble  savages,  because  forsooth  they  do  not  rave  at  bugs  and 
slugs  as  he  used  to  do,  and  Elbert  Hubbard,  ever  on  the 
broncho’s  neck,  says  that  clergymen  travel  for  half  fare  be¬ 
cause  they  are  so  childish.  There  is  no  mistaking  these  favors, 
they  are  as  positive  as  the  odors  of  a  glue  factory. 

The  ministry,  however,  has  a  challenge  to  the  boys  and  young 
men  who  are  looking  into  the  future  and  debating  within 
themselves  what  to  do  and  it  has  a  challenge  to  offer  to  those 
whose  careers  are  fixed  but  who  have  a  chance  to  help  young 
men  in  their  struggle  through  the  riffles. 

The  first  challenge  that  it  has  to  offer  is  the  challenge  of 

^ermanencp 

No  man  cares  for  a  temporary  job,  least  of  all  does  he  care 
to  prepare  himself  through  long  years  of  apprenticeship  and 
study  for  something  which  may  fizzle  out  just  about  the  time 
he  has  attained  his  greatest  efficiency  in  it.  Changing  horses 
in  the  middle  of  the  river  is  bad  business,  but  that  is  exactly 
what  hundreds  of  men  have  to  do  every  year. 

When  the  writer  moved  to  Gettysburg  14  years  ago  there 
were  liverymen  there  who  had  two,  four,  six,  ten  seaters 


I 


drawn  by  four  and  six  horses,  all  lined  up  along  the  curb,  ex¬ 
tending  from  the  railroad  station  a  block  and  two  away  and 
when  the  long  excursion  trains  poured  their  tourists  out  it 
took  but  a  few  minutes  until  the  carriages  were  all  full  and 
the  caravans  moving  out  over  the  battlefields.  Nothing  seemed 
more  permanent  than  the  business  of  Gettysburg  liverymen, 
since  Gettysburg  is  bound  to  be  a  Mecca  of  patriotic  Americans 
as  long  as  America  endures.  Yet  those  vehicles  have  long 
since  gone  to  dust,  having  decayed  in  the  elements  behind  the 
stables  they  once  filled.  Fourteen  years  ago  a  carriagemaker 
there  did  a  good  business ;  he  had  to  seek  the  movie  business 
-  for  a  living.  Fourteen  years  ago  a  father  and  son  were  in 
the  stone  cutting  business  and  had  a  splendid  trade,  the  con¬ 
crete  mixer  came  along  and  snatched  their  business  away 
entirely  and  they  are  working  at  common  labor  on  the  battle¬ 
field  in  summer  and  hauling  in  winter.  Fourteen  years  ago 
the  town  was  surrounded  by  members  of  a  most  venerable 
race,  a  race  that  dated  back  to  the  Caesars — the  toll-gate  keep¬ 
ers — you  couldn’t  leave  the  town  without  paying  your  tribute  to 
them :  they  are  all  gone.  Fourteen  years  ago  a  member  of 
our  church  was  making  a  comfortable  living  at  saddlery.  The  . 
auto  came  along  and  cut  the  business  down  to  such  an  extent 
that  he  took  his  wife,  who  had  never  lived  in  the  country,  out 
on  the  farm.  He  is  out  there  now  raising  hogs,  while  the 
saloon  men  who  used  to  raise  hogs  in  town  are  now  raising 
boils,  they  are  full  of  them  and  they  are  sore. 

So  the  story  goes.  When  we  were  children  and  used  to 
read  of  inventions  displacing  hand  trades  we  used  to  pity  the 
men  who  stormed  the  factories  and  burned  the  new  machines, 
because  we  knew  what  it  meant.  We,  however,  thought  that 
such  hardships  belonged  only  to  the  last  century.  We  were 
wrong.  It  is  a  hardship  that  becomes  more  menacing  each 
year,  because  of  the  speed  with  which  we  shift  our  methods 
and  our  policies. 

Amid  this  kaleidoscopic  change  there  is  no  trade,  profession 
or  calling  which  is  as  sure  of  permanency  as  the  Christian 
ministry. 


2 


The  rapid  sweep  of  reform  has  recently  reduced  the  useful¬ 
ness  of  many  laudable  institutions.  Since  Prohibition  came 
into  effect  the  Chicago  hospital  is  using  five  hundred,  fewer 
beds  than  it  used  before  and  the  police  department,  instead 
of  having  fifty  and  sixty  arrests  on  Saturday  night  have  five 
or  six.  Water  Street  Mission,  New  York,  which  used  to 
serve  fifteen  hundred  Christmas  dinners  to  the  poor  of  New 
York  in  other  years  provided  for  five  hundred  this  year. 
Twenty  came.  There  will  be  a  great  reduction  in  police  forces, 
jail  equipments,  hospital  expenses,  asylum  attendants,  and  other 
charitable  and  corrective  forces.  A  bowery  mission  will  be  as 
great  a  curiosity  fifty  years  from  now  as  a  slave  auction  block 
is  today. 

But  the  progress  of  righteousness  is  not  going  to  jeopardize 
the  Christian  ministry,  for  the  simple  reason  that  the  nearer 
a  man  draws  to  God  the  more  he  will  love  God’s  house  and 
the  message  from  God’s  throne.  Even  if  the  time  should  ever 
come  when  Christians  will  no  more  need  to  sing, 

“Rescue  the  perishing. 

Care  for  the  dying, 

Jesus  is  merciful, 

Jesus  will  save.’’ 

they  will  go  on  their  higher,  happier  way,  singing, 

“Sweeter  as  the  years  go  by. 

Sweeter  as  the  years  go  by. 

Richer,  fuller,  deeper, 

Jesus  love  is  sweeter. 

Sweeter  as  the  years  go  by.’’ 

To  lead  a  group  of  jubilant  saints  like  that  “upward  to 
Zion”  is  a  privilege  which  angels  well  might  covet. 

The  first  challenge  therefore  of  the  ministry  is  the  challenge 
of  permanency. 

The  next  challenge  of  the  ministry  is  the  challenge  of 

3 


tlerritorp 

Did  you  ever  notice  the  jingle  in  the  tones  of  a  general  man¬ 
ager?  There  is  something  unmistakable  about  his  whole  de¬ 
meanor,  first  because  he  must  be  an  unusual  man  or  he  would 
not  have  the  territory ;  secondly  because  he  naturally  feels  his 
importance.  I  like  to  talk  with  a  general  manager — his  talk 
is  usually  big  in  every  way,  and  if  he  is  not  too  hilarious  over 
himself,  refreshing  as  it  is  big. 

There  isn’t  a  man  on  earth,  there  isn’t  a  business  on  earth 
which  has  the  territory  that  the  ministry  has. 

The  Standard  Oil  Company  is  usually  supposed  to  cover 
the  earth,  in  fact  sometimes  credited  with  owning  it,  but  what 
business  could  the  Standard  Oil  Company  do  up  in  northern 
Alaska  where  the  whale  and  the  seal  and  the  walrus  supply 
the  oil?  The  missionary  does  business  there  and  a  good  busi¬ 
ness  too.  Close  behind  John  D.  is  Henry  with  his  Fords, 
which  “chatter,  chatter,  as  they  go,”  but  what  business  could 
Ford  do  up  on  the  snow  capped  Alps?  The  monks  with  their 
St.  Bernard  dogs  and  their  hospice  are  there  saving  the  lost 
and  ministering  to  them  and  have  been  there  these  many  years. 
What  business  could  fur  dealers  do  in  Central  Africa?  You 
may  hang  a  set  of  furs  around  an  American  girl  in  African 
weather  but  the  African  belles  don’t  belong  in  that  ward. 
Christianity  can  do  business  there  and<  is  enlarging  its  oper¬ 
ations  all  the  time. 

How  many  self-binders  could  you  sell  in  China,  where  the 
staff  of  life  is  rice?  They  are  taking  the  book-binders  and 
the  principal  wheat  with  increasing  avidity.  How  many  safety 
razors  could  you  sell  in  an  Old  Ladies’  Home,  how  many 
vanity  boxes  in  an  Old  Men’s  Home?  You  could  carry  the 
gospel  there  and  they  would  receive  it  with  tears  of  joy.  I 
know,  because  I  have  taken  it  there. 

Some  men  must  stop  with  their  goods  at  territorial  bound¬ 
aries.  No  man  dare  bring  liquor  into  the  United  States  hence¬ 
forth. 

Some  men  must  stop  with  their  goods  at  climatic  boundaries. 
Who  could  sell  fly  netting  in  Iceland  or  ice  skates  in  Cuba? 

4 


Some  must  stop  at  racial  boundaries.  Kipling  says : 

“The  east  is  east  and  the  west  is  west, 

And  the  twaini  will  never  meet.” 


You  can’t  sell  a  Chinaman  high  heeled  shoes  nor  an  Amer¬ 
ican  a  loose  flowing  robe.  You  can  sell  the  gospel  to  them 
all  and  it  is  bound  to  capture  the  markets  of  the  world,  for 
none  can  undersell  you.  Who  ever  told  his  men  to  go  out 
and  sell,  “without  money  and  without  price?”  That  is  ex¬ 
actly  what  God  commissions  His  ministers  to  do. 

Territory!  why  there  isn’t  a  business  in  the  world  which 
offers  half  the  territory  which  the  Christian  ministry  offers. 
So  young  man  while  you  are  weighing  the  pros  and  cons  re¬ 
member  the  territory  you  will  have  if  you  enter  the  ministry 
of  Jesus  Christ. 

Another  challenge  which  the  ministry  offers  is  the  challenge 
of 


a  iSotile  I.ineage 


There  is  not  quite  as  much  in  a  noble  lineage  as  some  people 
imagine.  When  we  hear  people  bragging  of  their  ancestry  we 
often  wonder  whether  they  are  not  also  related  to  the  peanut 
family,  with  the  best  part  under  the  ground.  When  a  Revol¬ 
utionary  soldier  or  a  signer  is  asked  to  throw  the  mantle  of 
sanctity  over  some  modern  rogue  or  the  mantle  of  efficiency 
over  a  modern  microbe,  just  because  he  happened  to  bear 
his  name  or  has  come  with  various  accretions  from  his  loins 
he  is  certainly  asked  to  work  over  time  without  extra  pay. 

The  spirit  was  prevalent  in  the  days  of  Christ.  He  was 
constantly  hearing  them  brag  that  they  were  the  children  of 
Abraham.  Eighteen  hundred  years  after  Abraham  died  they 
still  made  him  their  boast,  when  the  only  resemblance  between 
them  and  Abraham  was  their  face  and  their  fertility. 

But  while  there  is  not  much  in  ancestry  as  some  people 
imagine  there  is  something  in  it.  You  know  your  feelings, 
when  you  see  the  pictures  of  the  Presidents,  the  pictures  of 
the  Poets,  the  Inventors,  the  Singers,  the  great  Hymn  Writ- 

5 


ers.  They  throw  you  into  something  akin  to  worship.  You 
stand  on  holy  ground,  and  if  one  of  their  descendants  were 
to  confront  you  you  would  want  to  grasp  his  hand  and  feel 
that  you  came  within  a  link  of  a  master.  Much  greater  would 
be  your  reverence  if  you  could  listen  to  one  of  the  masters 
himself. 

The  ministry  of  Jesus  Christ  not  only  introduces  you  to  a 
line  more  noble  than  all,  but  invites  you  to  come  into  and 
become  a  part  of  it.  If  you  could  go  to  some  down  town 
photographer  or  artist  and  have  a  life  sized  likeness  of  your¬ 
self  made  and  then  go  and  hang  it  in  one  of  the  halls  of  the 
White  House,  which  many  hope  to  do  but  which  few  will  do, 
since  “many  are  called  but  few  are  chosen,”  what  a  privilege 
that  would  be.  That  is  exactly  what  Jesus  Christ  invites  you 
to  do  when  He  tells  you  to  preach  the  Word  and  become  a 
standard  bearer  of  redeeming  grace.  He  asks  you  to  come  in 
and  take  your  place  in  the  line  that  began  on  the  Mount 
of  Beatitudes  and  will  reach  to  the  great  White  Throne,  the 
line  that  has  in  it  Jesus  Himself  and  Paul  and  John  and 
Augustine,  Huss,  Luther,  Wesley,  Whitfield,  Edwards,  Spurg¬ 
eon,  Moody,  Talmage,  Beecher,  and  thousands  of  others,  who 
compose  the  mightiest  order  that  ever  tracked  its  way  across 
the  desert  sands  of  time. 

It  is  a  privilege  as  well  as  an  inspiration  to  belong  to  this 
order  of  men.  I  yield  to  no  one  in  my  respect  for  all  honest 
labor,  I  believe  with  Carlyle  that  there  is  only  one  monster 
in  this  world,  the  idle  man,  yet  with  a  regard  akin  to  vener¬ 
ation  for  all  labor,  I  would  rather  be  a  member  of  this  order 
than  of  any  other  order  on  earth,  whether  it  be  civil,  military, 
fraternal,  educational  and  any  other.  I  would  rather  be  an 
heir  to  this  lineage  than  to  the  lineage  of  any  other,  not  be¬ 
cause  these  men  preached  such  wonderful  sermons  and  had 
such  a  wonderful  following  but  because  of  the  wonderful 
work  they  did. 

There  has  been  no  braver  set  of  men  than  the  ministry 
holds.  All  but  two  of  the  original  disciples  sealed  their  testi¬ 
mony  with  their  blood.  The  scarlet  line  runs  from  there  to 
France  without  a  break. 


6 


In  olden  days  an  insult  to  the  king  was  often  equivalent  to 
a  death  sentence,  yet  Nathan  told  David  his  sin  so  plainly 
that  he  sent  him  to  nights  of  weeping. 

When  Latimer  paid  his  New  Year’s  visit  to  that  Bluebeard 
of  lust,  Henry  VIII,  he  gave  him  a  Bible  as  a  gift,  with  the 
page  turned  down  at  the  words,  “whoremongers  and  adulterers 
God  will  judge.”  John  the  Baptist  paid  with  his  life  for 
talking  that  way  to  Herod.  When  Emperor  Theodosius  slew 
seven  thousand  citizens  of  Thessalonica  and  returned  to  Milan 
to  enter  the  assembly  of  the  saints,  as  was  his  custom.  Bishop 
Ambrose  turned  him  away  and  sent  him  into  eight  months 
of  penitence  and  tears.  Even  more  dangerous  than  offending 
kings  was  an  offense  against  the  rulers  of  the  Church.  Listen 
to  Savonarola  in  the  days  of  the  Church’s  corruption.  “Oh 
harlot  church :  thou  hast  made  thy  deformity  apparent  to  all 
the  world !  thou  hast  multiplied  thy  fornications  in  Italy,  in 
France,  in  Spain,  in  every  country.”  Knox  preached,  with  a 
musket  leveled  at  his  head.  Judson  bared  his  breast  to  the 
fierce  South  African  natives  and  told  them  to  stab  him  if 
they  would.  On  Flanders’  Field,  “where  poppies  grow,”  there 
lie  chaplains  and  Seminary  students  by  the  thousands,  just  as 
they  lay  with  their  comrades  above  the  ground  before  they 
“went  west.”  Among  those  who  came  back  were  thousands 
of  others,  many  of  them  coming  back  with  the  brands  of  war 
deep  burned  in  their  flesh.  I;t  was  so  in  the  Civil  War,  it 
was  so  in  the  Revolution.  We  shall  never  forget  Clifford  and 
Conwell  and  Trumbull  and  Muhlenburg.  They  stand  out  like 
rocks  upon  the  mountains,  from  which  we  can  sweep  the  hor¬ 
izon  unmeasured  miles  around. 

Great  in  battle,  this  royal  line  reaching  back  to  Jesus,  has 
been  equally  great  in  reform.  The  biggest  man  in  the  abolition 
of  slavery  was  Lyman  Beecher,  whose  sermon  on  the 
sovereignty  of  God  made  Wendell  Phillips  an  agitator  and 
whose  fearless  genius  gave  his  daughter  the  passion  for 
“Uncle  Tom’s  Cabin”  and  his  son  the  eloquence  to  save 
England  for  the  North  and  a  united  democracy  for  the  world. 

Lyman  Beecher  was  worth  any  thousand  men  of  the  Civil 
War,  for  it  is  harder  to  start  a  big  body  than  to  keep  it 

7 


going.  But  Lyman  Beecher  was  only  one  of  ten  thousand 
pulpit  orators  who  opened  the  volle^ns  of  divine  wrath  upon 
human  slavery,  as  Sam  Small  is  only  one  of  the  fifty  thousand 
Elijahs  who  have  denounced  old  Red-nosed  Barleycorn  and 
sent  him  to  his  grave.  Beginning  with  Paul’s  world  brother¬ 
hood  and  coming  down  by  Luther’s  democracy  to  the  reforms 
still  unwon  you  can’t  find  one  in  which  the  clergy  hasn’t  put 
the  heft  into  the  axe. 

Not  only  have  the  sky  pilots  been  of  incalculable  worth  to 
the  world  in  destroying  old  abuses ;  they  have  also  been  the 
best  pioneers  of  civilization  the  world  has  ever  had  and  have 
been  of  as  much  economic  value  as  tradesmen. 

When  missions  were  mentioned  for  India  the  East  India 
Company  said  the  sending  of  missionaries  to  evangelize  India 
was  the  maddest  dream  that  ever  entered  the  mind  of  man. 
After  the  missionaries  were  there  some  time  however,  Sir 
Rivers  Thompson  said  “Christian  missions  have  accomplished 
more  for  the  good  of  India  than  all  other  agencies  combined.” 
A  colonial  Governor  may  not  have  a  keen  discrimination  on 
the  qualities  of  sky  pilots  but  he  does  not  need  a  divining  rod 
to  tell  him  when  his  people  are  prospering.  The  ministry  car¬ 
ried  the  gospel  to  India. 

The  ministry  has  rendered  an  inestimable  service  to  edu¬ 
cation.  Do  you  know  how  Yale  was  founded?  In  the  year 
1 700  ten  ministers  assembled  in  the  village  of  Bradford,  a  few 
miles  east  of  New  Haven.  Each  of  them  came  with  an  arm 
full  of  books.  Each  of  them  walked  up  to  the  table  around 
which  they  were  sitting,  deposited  the  books  there  and  said, 
“I  give  these  books  for  the  founding  of  a  college  in  this 
colony.”  There  is  hardly  a  college  in  the  world  which  was 
not  founded  or  inspired  by  the  Christian  ministry. 

Ah,  friend,  if  you  want  to  enter  an  order  that  has  made  a 
real  record,  a  record  that  will  stand  the  heat  of  judgment 
fire  and  prove  chaff  when  the  all-seeing  eye  looks  full  upon 
it,  enter  the  Christian  ministry.  It  challenges  you  with  the 
best  lineage  upon  this  earth. 

Because  of  its  wonderful  lineage  it  offers  you  also  another 
wonderful  challenge,  the  challenge  of 

8 


^resitige 

It  is  true  of  course  that  prestige  isn’t  as  big  a  factor  in  a 
big  city  as  it  is  in  a  small  town.  A  chub  in  a  tub  makes  more 
splash  than  a  whale  in  the  sea  and  our  little  conceits  soon 
shrink  when  we  reach  the  metropolis.  A  prophet  of  the 
wilderness  stormed  into  Parkes  Cadman’s  study  sometime 
since  and  said,  “I  came  to  take  New  York  for  Christ.”  Cad- 
man  said,  “All  right,  suppose  you  take  a  chair  first,  we’ll 
talk  it  over.”  He  put  him  at  something  he  could  do,  which 
was  probably  all  he  ever  did  at  home. 

Prestige  in  a  little  town  and  prestige  in  a  big  city  are  two 
entirely  different  things  but  the  fact  still  remains  that  a  minis¬ 
ter  goes  into  a  community  with  fewer  prejudices  against  him, 
fewer  suspicions  concerning  him  and  more  things  in  his  favor 
than  any  other  man.  The  world  has  so  much  sorrow  and  is 
in  need  of  so  much  guidance  for  childhood  and  youth,  so  much 
comfort  for  the  aged  and  so  much  solace  for  the  mourning 
that  a  community  immediately  looks  with  high  regard  toward 
the  new  minister.  It  has  no  fears  at  all  but  does  have  hope. 

Even  the  cynical  pay  tribute  to  the  minister.  Carlyle  wasn’t 
much  given  to  compliments.  It  was  the  least  of  his  ailments. 
One  day  as  he  sat  at  his  window  and  watched  the  crowd  go 
by,  he  said,  “Nine  out  of  every  ten  men  are  fools  and  I 
would  not  like  to  say  too  much  about  the  tenth.”  He  was 
a  scathing  critic  of  every  person  who  didn’t  ring  true,  yet 
when  he  referred  to  an  old  obscure  preacher  to  whose  church 
he  went  as  a  boy,  he  said,  “The  marks  of  that  man  are  upon 
me.” 

Friend  and  foe  in  one  way  or  another  concede  the  prestige 
of  the  gospel  ministry  and  it  is  a  privilege  to  have  it,  for 
you  are  not  building  on  mud  when  you  have  that  beneath  you. 

Think  of  this  prestige,  young  man,  when  making  your  choice. 
It  is  a  decided  factor  in  favor  of  the  ministry. 

Another  challenge  which  the  ministry  has  to  offer,  and  the 
greatest  of  all,  is  the  challenge  of 

9 


^erbtce 


This  in  fact  is  the  call.  Many  a  young  man  hesitates  to 
start  for  the  ministry  because  he  hasn’t  heard  a  voice  or 
seen  a  flaming  cross  in  the  sky  or  had  a  dream  making  his 
duty  plain.  Do  you  need  a  voice  when  you  see  flames  creep¬ 
ing  along  the  eaves  and  know  there  is  a  family  asleep  in  the 
house? 

A  Cumberland  Valley  engineer  stopped  his  midnight  train 
a  few  years  ago  to  arouse  a  farmer’s  sleeping  family  and 
save  them  from  a  death  in  flames.  Do  you  need  a  vision  from 
heaven  to  tell  you  your  duty  when  you  see  a  struggling  swim¬ 
mer  out  in  the  surf  ?  The  need  is  the  loudest  call  God  ever 
gave  to  man,  and  this  forms  the  loudest  challenge  from  the 
ministry. 

There  are  those  who  think  that  the  magazine  and  the  forum 
have  become  so  popular  that  they  have  reduced  the  service 
of  the  pulpit  to  a  minimum  and  left  the  preacher  with  little 
else  to  do  than  baptize  the  babies,  marry  the  betrothed  and 
bury  the  dead.  If  that  were  all  he  had  to  do  there  would 
be  no  need  of  apology  even  then,  for  if  he  would  attend  to  those 
and  follow  them  up  as  he  ought  to  he  would  have  all  that 
any  man  would  care  to  give  an  account  of  on  the  judgment 
Day. 

But  that  isn’t  all  that  he  has  to  do.  He  has  the  same  pardon 
to  offer  to  the  sin — enslaved  race  he  alwayvs  'had  to  offer 
and  that  is  a  wonderful  service  as  well  as  a  wonderful 
privilege.  I  never  read  of  the  crew  that  carried  the  news  of 
freedom  to  San  Domingo  and  shouted,  “Free!”  across  the  wat¬ 
ers  to  the  people  who  stood  on  shore,  without  wishing  I  might 
have  been  among  them.  I  never  read  of  the  patriots  breaking 
into  the  castle  of  Chillon  and  shouting  “Free!”  to  Bonnivard, 
six  years  chained  to  a  pillar,  without  wishing  I  might  have 
been  with  them.  Oh,  it  is  wonderful  to  announce  pardon  to 
any  man,  but  where  is  the  pardon  that  brings  the  thrill  that 
the  pardon  of  Almighty  God  brings?  Where  is  the  pardon  that 
is  as  sweeping  and  as  permanent?  George  III  issued  a  proc- 


10 


lamation  of  pardon  to  all  our  Revolutionary  forefathers,  ex¬ 
cept  John  Hancock  and  Patrick  Henry,  provided  that  they  lay 
down  their  arms.  The  herald  of  Christ  can  offer  pardon  to 
every  John  and  every  Patrick  this  old  world  produces.  An 
old  cobbler  walking  the  streets  of  Nantucket  said,  “There  is 
hope  for  you  John,”  to  the  town  drunkard,  and  lo  drunken 
John  was  born  again  into  the  great  John  B.  Gough. 

The  ministry  is  great  in  the  pardon  that  it  brings  and  great 
in  the  points  of  contact  that  it  has  with  humanity.  The  school 
teacher  gets  them  in  their  teens,  the  college  professor  gets  them 
in  their  youth,  the  doctor  gets  them  when  they  are  sick,  the 
dentist  gets  them  when  they  are  sore,  the  lawyer  gets  them 
when  they  are  in  trouble,  the  undertaker  gets  them  when  they 
are  dead.  The  preacher  touches  them  at  every  point  from  the 
cradle  to  the  grave. 

It  is  true  that  much  of  the  work  is  “unhonored  and  unsung” 
by  the  world,  but  the  trees  and  the  rocks  that  fill  a  cave-in  are 
as  important  as  the  shining  rails  on  which  the  engine  runs. 

Nor  is  the  fact  that  many  churches  are  more  than  half 
empty  a  proof  that  the  pulpit  has  lost  its  function  or  its 
service  in  modern  life ;  the  only  thing  it  proves  is  that  some 
pulpits  have  lost  their  connection  either  with  the  people  or 
with  God.  A  broken  connection  at  either  the  magneto  or  the 
spark  plugs  will  stall  your  car. 

He  who  knows  his  people,  his  message  and  his  God  will  not 
want  for  hearers.  He  will  have  them  the  year  around  and 
no  other  man  on  earth  can  duplicate  it. 

For  service  to  man’s  deepest  needs,  for  points  of  contact, 
for  sustained  opportunities  there  is  no  call  on  earth  to  equal 
the  Christian  ministry. 

Remember  that  young  men  when  you  approach  the  block 
and  begin  to  chisel. 

Contrary  also  to  current  opinion  the  Christian  ministry  has 
a  challenge  of 


II 


Compensfatton 

The  ministry  is  the  best  paid  calling  in  the  world.  Do  I 
mean  to  say  that  ministers  are  endowing  universities?  No  but 
they  are  near  the  average  income  of  their  congregation.  That 
puts  him  in  the  thick  of  the  crowd,  exactly  where  he  ought 
to  be  as  a  minister  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  was  ever 
in  the  midst  of  the  multitude.  Were  the  minister  up  with  the 
plungers  who  make  money  by  the  thousands,  or  back  with  the 
pinched  and  pauperized,  he  would  be  out  of  his  place.  He  is 
exactly  where  he  ought  to  be,  in  the  midst  of  the  multitude, 
with 

“Enough  to  meet  stern  nature’s  ends, 

And  a  little  left  to  treat  his  friends.” 

holding  a  position  from  which  he  can  deal  intelligently  and 
sympathetically  with  both  the  rich  man  and  the  poor  man. 

In  all  things  necessary  for  bodily  comfort,  both  for  himself 
and  family,  the  minister  of  the  gospel  fares  as  well  as  the 
average  and  if  he  knows  how  to  work  and  keeps  his  feet  off 
the  radiator,  better  than  the  average.  If  you  doubt  it,  go 
through  his  house,  look  at  his  pictures,  his  library,  his  dinner 
table,  his  wardrobes,  and  you  will  be  convinced. 

But  man  “doth  not  live  by  bread  alone.”  A  great  deal 
of  the  minister’s  pay  never  enters  the  monthly  check.  It 
comes  from  individual  members  and  it  is  not  all  sausage  either. 

One  day  when  Guy  Alarks  Pearce  was  sitting  with  Spurgeon 
in  his  pulpit,  as  the  offering  was  being  taken,  he  leaned  over 
and  said  to  Mr.  Spurgeon,  “Doctor,  when  I  was  a  young  man 
I  used  to  come  every  Sunday  evening  to  hear  you  here  and 
you  will  never  know  how  much  good  you  used  to  do  me. 
You  used  to  wind  me  up  like  an  eight-day  clock.”  “Is  that 
so,”  said  Spurgeon,  “thank  God  for  that.” 

But  that  was  Spurgeon  and  to  be  expected.  The  same  thing 
comes  the  way  of  the  humblest  herald.  Only  a  few  Sundays 
ago  one  of  the  most  pious  of  our  men,  a  godly  father,  who  has 
been  a  priest  in  his  household  as  few  fathers  have,  lingered 
after  the  evening  service  and  went  along  into  the  study  beside 


12 


the  pulpit  for  a  little  chat.  In  the  course  of  his  conversation 
he  referred  to  a  sermon  we  had  preached  shortly  before 
Christmas  on  “John  in  Jail.”  He  said,  “I  was  in  jail  that 
day  myself,  but  when  you  said  that  even  with  John’s  doubts 
Christ  said  that  he  was  the,  greatest  ever  born  of  woman,  that 
lifted  me  higher  than  the  stars.”  Ah,  that  is  more  than  gold. 
Business  men  often  talk  about  helping  a  fellow  out  of  a  hole 
and  it  is  a  laudable  operation,  but  I  would  ten  thousand  times 
rather  lift  a  man  higher  than  the  stars  than  pull  him  out  of 
a  million  holes.  Pulling  a  man  out  of  a  hole  usually  means 
putting  him  on  his  feet  financially,  lifting  him  higher  than  the 
stars  means  taking  him  up  to  God  in  whose  presence  is  “full¬ 
ness  of  joy.” 

So  rich  is  this  remuneration  of  the  ministry  that  when 
Joseph  Parker  was  asked  what  his  hobby  was  he  replied 
“preaching,”  and  when  asked  what  his  hobby  was  aside  from 
preaching  he  replied,  “There  is  nothing  aside  from  preach¬ 
ing.” 

He  meant  of  course  for  himself. 

Robert  Lowry,  the  author  of  “Shall  we  gather  at  the  River,” 
“I  need  Thee  Every  Hour,”  “We’re  Marching  to  Zion,”  and 
a  host  of  other  popular  hymns  and  who  knew  the  applause  of 
thousands  because  of  his  hymns,  said,  “I  would  rather  preach 
a  gospel  sermon  to  an  appreciative  audience  than  write  a 
hymn.” 

But  the  remuneration  of  the  ministry  is  not  exhausted  in 
the  check  and  the  words(  of  sincere  appreciation  here.  He 
has  also  an  annuity  laid  up  for  him  in  heaven. 

Old  John  Vredenberg,  of  Somerville,  N.  J.,  was  a  con¬ 
secrated  man  of  God  and  true  to  every  duty.  No  one  ever 
doubted  his  piety,  his  orthodoxy  or  his  works.  But  his  re¬ 
sults  were  meager,  his  gleanings  small.  Many  in  half  the  time 
had  gathered  more  into  the  kingdom  than  he  did.  Feeling 
that  he  had  been  faithful  in  small  things  he  closed  his  eyes  in 
peace  and  was  carried  out  to  the  bosom  of  his  ancient  mother. 

Within  a  year  or  two  two  hundred  people  gathered  around 
the  altars  of  Somerville  to  profess  their  faith  in  Jesus 
Christ  and  the  remarkable  thing  about  it  was  that  most  of 

13 


them  traced  their  early  religious  impressions  back  to  the 
ministry  of  John  Vredenburg.  Among  the  two  hundred  were 
the  parents  of  the  great  Talmage  whose  sermons  were 
printed  weekly  in  forty  different  languages  and  scattered  for 
a  quarter  of  a  century  over  the  face  of  the  earth.  Do  you 
think  John  Vredenberg  knows  nothing  of  it,  because  he  left 
his  baggage  here  and  hasn’t  sent  for  it?  Must  you  have  all 
with  you  that  you  ever  owned  to  enjoy  the  gratitude  of  a 
friend  in  a  distant  city?  No  doubt  all  of  the  two  hundred 
have  by  this  time  crossed  the  flood;  the  elder  Talmages 
and  their  greater  son  have  and  by  their  very  presence  are 
making  heaven  doubly  sweet  to  the  old  man  who  thought  he 
had  never  done  anything  but  chop  wood  and  carry  water. 

Ah,  these  are  the  things  that  make  us  bold  to  challenge  you 
young  men  to  enter  the  ministry.  Even  though  there  are  still 
some  crustaceans  who  pledge  the  Lord  to  keep  their  preacher 
poor  if  He  will  keep,  him  humble,  the  ministry  is  the  best 
paid  calling  in  all  the  world. 

If,  therefore,  you  are  looking  for  a  job  with  good  pay, 
ponder  well  the  remuneration  of  the  ministry. 

To  take  a  bird’s-eye  view  of  the  whole  situation,  these  are 
the  things  you  ought  to  consider  in  determining  your  career ; 

1.  Permanency. 

2.  Territory. 

3.  Lineage. 

4.  Prestige. 

5.  Service. 

6.  Remuneration. 

If  the  ministry  seems  to  offer  these  to  you  in  richer  measure 
than  any  other  calling,  then  think  long  before  you  leap  into 
other  waters.  You  may  come  back  if  you  leap  into  the  wrong- 
hole,  but  it  will  be  hard  swimming.  I  have  spent  many  years 
in  a  College  and  Seminary  town  and  have  seen  many 
wanderers  return,  some  after  ten  years.  You  can’t  run  away 
from  God  and  be  happy.  Trying  to  run  away  from  the 
ministry  will  make  a  wandering  Jew  out  of  a  Gentile. 

Don’t  try  it. 


14 


THE  BOARD  OF  EDUCATION  OF  THE 
UNITED  LUTHERAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICA 


Rev.  a.  J.  TurkeE,  D.D., . President 

Rev.  Howard  R.  Gold, . Secretary 

Mr.  John  M.  Snyder, . Treasurer 


Secretaries  of  the  Board 

Executive 

Rev.  F.  G.  Gotwald,  D.D.,  York,  Pa. 

College  and  Recruiting 
Rev.  C.  S.  Bauslin,  D.D.,  Harrisburg,  Pa. 

Universities  and  Other  Schools 
Rev.  C.  P.  Harry,  Norristown,  Pa. 

Women  Students. 

Mary  F.  MarklEy,  437  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York,  N.  Y. 


•P 


Published  by 

THE  DEPARTMENTS  OF  INSTITUTIONS  AND 
RECRUITING  FOR  THE  MINISTRY 

Charles  S.  Bauslin,  D.D.,  College  Secretary 
212-213  Evangelical  Building  Harrisburg,  Pa. 

^  ^ 


The  Board  of  Education  also  publishes  the  following  litera¬ 
ture  which  will  be  supplied  free  upon  request  to  the  above 
address  : 

Is  the  Ministry  an  Attractive  Vocation? 

Every  Man’s  Life  a  Plan  of  God. 

What  Shall  I  Do  With  My  Life? 

Fall  In— The  World  Call. 

Will  It  Pay? 

Profit  and  Loss  in  Recruiting. 

Who  Calls? 

Second  Call. 

You  Fathers. 

You  Mothers. 

An  Appeal  to  Mothers. 

Living  the  Life. 

The  Object  of  the  Ministry — You. 

Leads  for  Leaders. 

The  Conservation  of  Our  Boys. 

The  Mildred  Welch  Series  of  8  stories. 

For  younger  lads. 


“I  know  o£  no  other  occupation  in  which 
I  could  have  had  such  privileges  as  the 
ministry  has  offered  me.” 

— Bishop  W.  F.  McDowell. 


^ 


“It  was  hard  for  me  to  decide  to  become 
a  minister  and  for  a  long  time  I  declared  I 
would  not  be  one.  I  have  now  been  preach¬ 
ing  for  many  years,  and  I  have  never  seen 
the  day  on  which  I  was  sorry  for  my  final 
choice.  My  joy  increases  with  the  years.” 

— Rev.  Chas.  Edward  Jefferson,  D.D. 


^  ^  ^ 


“Redeeming  Love  has  been  my  theme 
for  over  fifty  years  and  I  wish  I  could  have 
another  fifty.” 

— Rev.  Alexander  Whyte,  D.D. 


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J^t  ckoooeo 

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